1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector including conductive terminals insertable into a housing.
2. Description of Prior Arts
Contacts insertable into passageways of housings require assured mechanisms to be retained in the passageways after insertion, resistant to strain. Stamped and formed contacts commonly rely on lances cooperating with ledges along one or more walls of the passageway to resist withdrawal in a direction opposed to the direction of insertion, and the lances commonly are deflectable during insertion until passing the ledge whereafter the lances resile for a free end thereof to abut the ledge to define a positive stop. Such contacts can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,362,260 and 5,899,775. However, the contacts having such lances for retaining the contacts in the corresponding passageways are usually complex to be produced which in turn increases the manufacture cost, and the whole contact reliability will be decreased after repeated engagements with a complementary terminal.
Another kind of contacts, which are relatively thin and longitudinally elongated, usually has a body portion including side edges. Each side edge is provided with one or more laterally projecting barbs. These barbs engage the respective sides of the passageway in a housing to affect an interference or press-fit therebetween, thereby retaining the contact within its respective passageway. Such contacts are widely employed and are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,263,882, 5,112,233 and 5,064,391. As the size of the electrical connectors decreases, it has become extremely desirable for connectors to have closely spaced and small contacts. As a result, the barbs on the contacts may not provide the desired retention force, especially where the electrical connector is intended for repeated xe2x80x9cmake and breakxe2x80x9d engagement over an extended period of time. Moreover, if the walls partitioning the passageways are relatively thin to conserve space, barbs on the contacts can break through the wall and electrically contact with the adjacent contact. Obviously, this will cause short circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,215 discloses still another kind of contact, which has an intermediate body portion provided with respective side edges formed with a protruding convex portion and a recessed concave portion, respectively. The contacts are slideably inserted into respective channels in an insulative housing, the channels being separated by respective walls. When the contacts are thus inserted into the channels, the convex portion of an adjacent contact to trap and deform the wall therebetween, thereby exerting a resilient biasing force for retaining each contact in its respective channel. However, the contacts having such retention means are not reliable enough if subjected to strong shake, vibration or after repeated engagements with complementary contacts.
Hence, an electrical connector having improved contact retention is highly desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector with improved contact retention for firmly securing the contacts in a housing thereof.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention, comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals received in the housing. The insulative housing defines a plurality of terminal receiving channels. Each terminal receiving channel has an inner face and a pair of step portions oppositely protruding from the inner face and extending in a longwise direction. The conductive terminals each comprise a body portion having two opposed side edges, a pair of spaced-apart legs extending from the body portion, and a tail portion extending from the body portion along a direction away from the legs. Each side edge of the terminal comprises a shoulder and a recessed portion next to the shoulder. The step portion is depressed and collapsed by the shoulder when the terminal is inserted into the terminal receiving channel and part of the step portion is pressed into the recessed portions of the terminal, thereby securing the terminal in the housing under an engaging force between the depressed step portions of the housing and the recessed portions of the terminal.